Would you support a new bicycle lane on Connecticut Avenue NW, even if it resulted in fewer on-street parking spots or altered traffic patterns?

Frumin and Zukerberg would need more information about the lane’s design before giving an opinion. Bonds, Redd and Mara are inclined to oppose it, worried about a loss of on-street parking. Silverman is inclined to support it. “If we are to promote cycling, we need to promote cycling on our major thoroughfares,” she said.

I testified yesterday at a hearing of the DC Council's Committee on Transportation & the Environment. The hearing was on Pedestrian And Bicycle Infrastructure and Safety and on the Bicycle Safety Amendment Act of 2013.

All the speakers I heard from either completely supported the bill, had no opinion on it or supported everything but the removal of the bell mandate, though in most cases they didn't really seem to have heard about that part until the hearing, so I wouldn't say they were passionate about it. I didn't stay for the whole hearing, but of the last three speakers I didn't hear from, I was sure that two would support it.

You can read WABA's testimony here. An eventually you'll be able to watch the whole hearing here.

Mary Cheh, the Chair of the committee, was the only CM in attendance (though Grosso sent a staffer), and I was pretty enthused about her comments on biking and walking. It's pretty clear that she bikes frequently, a fact I already knew, but one that came though clearly in her questions and comments. She talked about biking from the District Building to Sibley, which is no short haul. And I think the personal experience informed some of her opinions.

The biggest piece of news to me, though apparently it had been discussed at a previous hearing, is that Cheh wants DDOT to put in cycle-tracks on Connecticut Avenue. I think she said "down the middle" like on Pennsylvania Avenue, but I may have heard wrong. As the Chair of the committee with oversight of DDOT, that's more than just a casual request. WABA clearly supports cycle-tracks there and on other major arterials as well.

She also took the opportunity several times to call on DDOT to repave the 15th Street cycletrack which she said was starting to require a mountain bike.

She asked questions about the Idaho Stop, and seemed open to the idea, though I know WABA wants to see contributory negligence fixed first.

There was a lot of discussion about sidewalk cycling. Several speakers after me were concerned about the issue, with one wanting it banned in Georgetown. Though of that group of speakers, one neighborhood advocate said that cyclist on the sidewalk was not even mentioned in a poll of his groups members about sidewalk safety. Cheh seemed to agree with WABA, that sidewalk cycling is often not ideal, but banning it would be an over-reaction and that it would discourage new cyclists, concerned cyclists from riding. I said that DDOT should review crash data on sidewalks before any decision is made. I've looked at the issue before, but MPD doesn't always report if a crash happened on the sidewalk, so the data is weak, but I think there are actually few crashes, and they are rarely serious. I will say this:

I know of 5 ped-bike fatal crashes in the DC area and none of them were the result of sidewalk cycling

DDOT counts show that few cyclists ride on sidewalks, unless it is some place like the National Mall

Cyclists and pedestrians can share space safely as demonstrated on numerous trails

Cheh asked if MPD was enforcing laws, specifically laws about parking in the bike lanes. I told her that even after the Council added a fine to the law, enforcement didn't seem to pick up and that there was even a website dedicated to "Who is parking in the L Street Cycle track today". There was also talk of the new rules for closing bike lanes and creating "safe accommodations", with a few speakers concerned that it would be no more effectively carried out than it is for sidewalks now.

Cheh also wanted to know about education and what the District could do to better educate drivers.

I have to say it was all a breath of fresh air. There was a little bit of "cyclists always run red lights," calls for banning bikes on sidewalks and one complaint about the "preferential treatment" cyclist receive, but in general there was a lot of agreement. And Cheh came off as at least as sympathetic to the position of cyclists and pedestrians as anyone else in DC government. I know I was concerned that by losing Tommy Wells as head of that committee we were losing someone who understood the importance of active transportation, but Cheh is right there with him. When the chair of the Pedestrian Advisory Council said that DDOT Director Terry Bellamy might attend a meeting she said she wanted to know if he would so she could attend too.

In the end, I'm confident the law is going to pass, and I look forward to cycle-tracks on DC's diagonal streets.

DCist digs into the BikeDC cancellation. "Bauman says he was stymied for months by Mayor Vince Gray's Special Events Task Group and the National Park Service. Bauman says he submitted his request to for a permit to the special events group last November, but did not get an appointment until January, and it wasn't until a few weeks after that when he was told to jump through more hoops involving the Metropolitan Police Department's special operations division, which handles security needs for events around the city....Bauman says he was told that Bike DC could not close certain segments of the Spout Run Parkway and U.S. Route 50 at the same time."

Cafritz Property at Riverdale Park officially re-submitted their plan to develop the land that straddles the future PG County Trolley Trail.

"Three members of the Arlington County police force will participate in the annual “Rode to Hope” Law Enforcement United bicycle trek, which will run 250 miles from Chesapeake to the District of Columbia over a three-day period in May."

This story about Taylor Phinney reminds me of the greatest Canadian Sports Film You've Never Heard Of a.k.a. "Running"

Sally Jenkins on Lance Armstrong "All I'm trying to say is, I think there is a level of outrage at Lance that is simply out of proportion to the offense, in my joking way. I've heard him compared to wife beaters and child molesters, and it's absurd."

Below is a map of Maryland bike crashes from this presentation about bicycle and pedestrian safety in PG County. ("Data from Baltimore City contain records of crashes but not locations; accordingly, those crashes do not appear in the maps below" WC: Well then, that's something we should fix.) Some of the recommendations are:

"In conjunction with M-NCPPC, SHA, and bicycle advocacy
groups, develop a list of roads that are available immediately for restriping for
bike lanes."

Create a Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Advisory Group
within County government

MHSO and DPWT should share data on the locations of
pedestrian and bicycle incidents

DPWT should work with PGPD to develop a “checklist” of
engineering and situational deficiencies that officers use during their
investigations of crash sites, which can then be shared with the Traffic Safety
Division. DPWT should then eliminate the collision audit program and use the
recommendation from PGPD to develop work orders for pedestrian and
bicycle improvements

DC Council's Committee on Transportation and the Environment will have a hearing on
Pedestrian and Bicycle Infrastructure and Safety on March 25 at 11:00. They will reportedly consider the Bicycle Safety Enhancement Act of 2013. You can sign up to testify at the link, if you are so inclined.

One reader has good things to say about GiveLoveCycle "a couple months back you posted a link to the GiveLoveCycle bags that fit in the handlebar rack of a CaBi, and I thought that would be a perfect gift for my wife, as she commutes almost exclusively by CaBi. I ordered her one, they sent it, and USPS left it under the stairs where the box was opened and the bag was stolen. I emailed them to ask if maybe the package was insured. They said no, but that if I could come pick up the bag, they'd give me a new one."

One cyclist left their Go-getter bike bag on their bike while they visited the Library of Congress and House office buildings. Capitol Police treated it as a bomb threat and mutilated it. "I couldn’t help myself and I said holy crap that’s a $150 bag. They offered me no sympathy and told me I shouldn’t leave a bag on the bike near the Capitol buildings or anywhere around DC." So if you're coming to the bike summit this week, keep that in mind.

If the Purple Line, and thus the extended CCT, is built, there will be less development along it in the Chevy Chase Lake area. In the image below, you can see the trail and it's bridge over Conn Ave on the north side of the Purple Line. And, in other Purple Line/CCT news, silver spring trails explains why the project doesn't need a Health Impact Assessment.

At a recent Alexandria Traffic Board Hearing, T&ES staff requested approval to remove one car parking space on King Street to allow for the installation of a bike corral with space for 8 bikes. "T&ES staff has coordinated with the Old Town Civic Association and key businesses located at
the intersection of King Street and Union Street. None of the businesses that were contacted
posed an objection to the removal of the parking space, and many noted that they believed the
additional bicycle parking would bring more business to their establishments."

Council Staff on the need for automatic points in car collisions with cyclists: "Currently, there is no fine or penalty for a driver who collides with a bicyclist. If a driver collides with a cyclist as a result of violating traffic laws, e.g. failure to yield, the driver is only cited for the underlying infraction. Certain traffic offenses against pedestrians are currently singled out for enhanced penalties where the same offenses against bicycles are treated identically to an offense between two cars. While it is often desirable to treat cars and bikes equally under the law, the vulnerability of cyclists to collisions with cars warrants increased penalties. This bill is necessary in order to create more severe penalties for drivers who hit cyclists and to eliminate ambiguity surrounding who should be cited for which violations in the event of a collision. Under current District law, hitting a cyclist does not amount to an offense beyond any other moving violation that led to the collision. With respect to cyclists, the practice of citing drivers for the infraction that caused the accident is insufficient for several reasons. MPD has a questionable history when it comes to properly citing drivers involved in accidents with cyclists. In some instances MPD ticketed the cyclist who was hit by a car, even though hitting a cyclist would seem to be a prima facie violation of the 3-foot passing requirement. Additionally, even when MPD does properly cite a driver who hits a cyclist, the penalty may be minimal. District law already has a citable offense for colliding with a pedestrian. This amendment would simply put cyclists on par with other vulnerable road users."

I think I missed this article when it came out. There's nothing new in it if you follow the blog, but it's a pretty good summary of the status and recent history of bicycle transportation in DC.

Richard Layman disagrees with the analysis of "why cyclists enrage drivers" from BBC futures. While I agree with him that drivers aren't morally superior, I do think that part of the explanation is that cyclists break rules that drivers hold above the law - like cutting in line (even though that isn't really what's happening) and not running red lights from a stop. It's the "rules" that cyclists break that make them angry, even when not an actual law or rule (like riding in the street or on the sidewalk). But other violations, like riding without a headlight, almost never seem to get mentioned, even though it's much more dangerous.

Starting this week, a long stretch of the W&OD trail ( from Shirlington in Arlington County, all the way to the western town limit of Herndon in Fairfax County) will be open for extended hours - from 5am to 9pm - as part of a pilot program.

"During the 2013 National Bike Summit, March 4-6, Capital Bikeshare will have additional corrals at its regular station at H and 8th Streets (just two blocks from the Summit hotel). That means you can pick up a CaBi at any location in the city and ride it to the Summit — without having to worry about the bike docks being full. Capitol Bikeshare will have valets there ready to take your bike and point you in the right direction."

There were some losses in the Virginia legislature this year, including a bill that allows localities to put stop signs or lights on trails where the intersect roads, but there was one win with a bill that will make texting while driving a primary offense and raise the penalty. Both those bills now go before the Governor.

A letter writer to Dr. Gridlock warns other pedestrians about speeding cyclists on the sidewalk. Dr. G adds "Conditions aren’t as bad for pedestrians as they were in the heyday of the bicycle messenger, but walkers still need to be very aware of their surroundings. As Wahl points out, it’s not paranoid to look behind you."

Bicycling advocate and Montgomery County Planning Board member Casey Anderson is also the spokesman for Marylanders Against Gun Violence. But has he watched every episode of Smallville?

"In fact, Marylanders enjoy bicycling for many reasons and at many levels of expertise, and some, including me, even do so on occasion simply to feel the joy of the wind in their hair."

DDOT is rolling out more Leading Pedestrian Interval intersections. "Leading pedestrian intervals are already in place at 14th Street and U Street N.W., which had nine crashes involving a cyclist and seven more involving pedestrians between 2010 and March 2012, " If the Bicycle Safety Amendment Act of 2013 passes, they would become Leading Pedestrian (and Bicyclist) Intervals.

Do you like drinking wine while riding around in a pedicab? Well, not only is it a new Olympic sport but also a groupon.

"The Catonsville Short Line Trail between Maiden Choice Lane and Paradise Ave. will be resurfaced with a crush and run (CR6) gravel surface beginning on February 25, 2013."

NBC4 plays up the driver-cyclist conflict when talking about the "fallout" of the new safety bill, but really there doesn't seem to be any "fallout". No one really seems oppossed to it. Video below the bump.

There's an uncomfortable set of incentives to on the one hand tell people that biking is safe (so that new people will give it a try) while also telling people it isn't (so that they'll give more money to safety). I suspect that despite the rise in bicycle deaths last year - which may just be noise in the data - biking in America is safer than it's ever been in my lifetime. Nonetheless, America Bikes references last year's uptick in their letter to Secretary LaHood asking that performance measures for states include non-motorized transportation. "In 2011, motor vehicle crash
fatalities were at a 60-year low in real numbers, and a historic low in the fatality rate per vehicle
miles traveled. Unfortunately, bicycle and pedestrian fatalities are on the rise—both in actual
numbers and percentage of overall fatalities. In 2011, a total of 5,109 individuals were killed
while walking or bicycling, an increase of 11.7 percent from 2010. As a share of overall
fatalities, bicycling and walking fatalities increased a full percentage point, now making up 15.8
percent of all traffic fatalities."

More biking is part of Mayor Gray's Sustainable DC Plan. "Although cars would still dominate city streets, it would cost more to park them and they would be expected to share the road with a streetcar system and tens of thousands of bicyclists. By 2032, according to the plan, a quarter of all commuter trips would be by bike or foot and half would be by public transportation... Other “medium term” goals include having ... an additional 200 Capital Bikeshare stations, twice as many bike lanes..."

Virginia texting bill passes Senate awaits Governor's signature. "Currently, texting is a secondary offense — drivers can be cited only while stopped for something else. Fines are only $20 for a first offense, $50 for subsequent offenses. The new law would raise fines to $250 and $500 respectively. Additionally, drivers convicted of reckless driving would face a $500 fine if they were texting at the time of the offense."

"Traffic fatalities rose 5 percent last year, according to an analysis of preliminary state data, reversing a seven-year decline in which the number of annual traffic deaths reached their lowest level in more than six decades." While more driving is part of the reason, the rate of deaths also went up. Faster driving, driving on rural roads, more freight traffic and distracted driving are possible reasons. "Increases in pedestrian and bicyclist deaths — a reflection of more people walking and biking in urban areas — may also be a factor, said Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state highway safety offices."

Earlier today, DC Councilmembers Tommy Wells and Mary M. Cheh introduced an Bicycle Safety Omnibus bill that would make several significant changes to the law. These include

Require the District Department of Motor Vehicles to
require an applicant for an operator’s permit to demonstrate knowledge of safely sharing
roadways with pedestrians and bicyclists

Allow bicyclists to use pedestrian traffic
control devices to cross an intersection unless otherwise indicated;

Establish a requirement that public space
permit holders blocking a sidewalk, bicycle lane, or other pedestrian or bicycle path
provide a safe accommodation for pedestrians and bicyclists;

Establish driving record points and
civil fines for failure to yield the right-of-way to a bicycle and colliding with a bicycle,

Modify the requirement for
bicycles to have an audible warning device,

Remove restrictions on where a
warning device may be used.

The MSM is focusing on the points and fines for failure to yield the right-of-way or colliding with a cyclist, but all of these have the potential to make biking easier and safer in the District.

The rule allowing cyclists to go on the Pedestrian Leading Interval (PLI) will allow cyclists to legally get out ahead of automobile traffic, even when a bike box isn't present. It's like Idaho Stop lite.

The bill removes the requirement to have a bell, as long as you can yell loud enough to warn people, which is a good step since the rule was widely ignored and probably served no purpose. Yelling in an emergency is so much easier than ringing a bell. Though, I think a bell is more courteous for trail users, I don't think they should be required.

Unfortunately, the rule change about riding two abreast didn't make it in (though it's mentioned in the header), but still this is a good step forward.